The Library Was, OOMK + Book Works:
Born out of OOMK’s Future Library residency at Open School East supported by Arts Council England, The Library Was reimagines the possible function, aesthetic and user culture of the library in an age when their continued existence is no longer guaranteed.
The Library Was offers a playful glimpse into Library history and its parallel present-future. The publication features a profile of the revolutionary Cuban librarian Marta Terry González, an account of the stolen library of the late Saudi novelist Abd al-Rahman Munif, and a re-assessment of The Five Laws of Library Science, 1931, as they apply to contemporary zine-collecting. Found and ‘recovered’ texts interweave The Library Was, ranging in their examination from race as technology to the Dendrology of the Book or Library as Estranged Family.
With contributions from Leila Kassir, Fehras Publishing Practices, Hudda Khaireh, and Rianna Jade Parker.
Individually constructed and layered, each copy of The Library Was has been handcrafted from carefully considered papers.